Riding the Storm
Can money buy you happiness?
A few years ago Duncan Bannatyne might have said so. He was happily married and his businesses were thriving. Life was good. He couldn't have known that a storm was brewing on the horizon and that he would soon face immense personal and professional struggles, including the strain of a divorce and the impact of the recession on his business empire. Riding the Storm is the inspirational account of how Duncan overcame these setbacks. It's a survival story, full of insights into how he adapted his businesses and his life to new financial realities.
In it, Duncan explains exactly how a working-class boy from Clydebank built himself a multimillion-pound business empire, and talks with incredible frankness about the current strategies, goals and finances of his companies. He reveals the true nature of his feuds and friendships with the other Dragons and uses his experiences from Dragons' Den to offer advice to start-up entrepreneurs in today's market. He speaks openly about the terrible pain of his divorce and how his children's love gave him the strength to get through it. He discusses the opportunities that success has given him, from learning to dance for Sport Relief to trekking up Kilimanjaro with his daughter. And finally he explains why, in spite of having just gone through the toughest years of his life, he feels positive about the future - and why you should too.
Born in Clydebank, Scotland, Duncan Bannatyne is best known as one of the stars of BBC entrepreneurship programme Dragons’ Den. His own business career began in his twenties, when he bought an ice cream van for £450. He soon expanded by buying more vans and eventually sold the business for £28,000, founding a chain of care homes instead. Quality Care Homes subsequently sold for £26 million in 1997 and another business, children's nursery chain Just Learning, sold for £22 million. He has since built the well-known Bannatyne's Health Clubs chain, as well as investing in bars, hotels and property.
He has been honoured with the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to charity and is heavily involved with Comic Relief and UNICEF.